The annual Downeast Big Brothers-Big Sisters Bowlathon is the organization’s oldest and largest fund-raiser.

The goal for this year is to raise $25,000 for the program that is sponsored by Catholic Charities Maine through an agreement with Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America.

This year’s bowlathon will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday, March 17, at Family Fun Lanes on Hildreth Street in Bangor, and from 8 a.m. to noon the same day at the Bangor-Brewer Lanes on Wilson Street in Brewer.

Event chairman Drew Mattins said the bowlathon has received the constant support of Andy Meucci, owner of Family Fun Lanes, “who has donated his facility to us for 20 years.”

Mattins thanks Meucci for that support, and is grateful for the support of the Maine Air National Guard MAINEIACS Charities and Irving Oil Co., “who have been major sponsors for several years,” Mattins said. “We couldn’t do it without these groups.”

To prepare for the event, volunteers gather pledges and sponsors for their participation.

Proceeds, this year, “will be used to fund the administrative part of the program, which is how we are able to expand and increase the number of matches,” Mattins explained. “The primary focus, right now, is to hire more staff.”

Mattins said the organization has one caseworker whose time is divided between two functions: Supervising 26 traditional [community] matches and supervising two graduate students who are running site-based matches.

The site-based matches involve high school student-mentors “who get together once a week with elementary students,” Mattins said. “I believe there are in the neighborhood of 40 matches.

“Realistically, we don’t want a caseworker handling more than 40 traditional matches,” he added. “It’s just too much, with all the background checks and other work that must be done to facilitate the matches.”

Increasing staff certainly will be a boon to the program, according to Mattins.

“We’ve got lots of adults on the list,” waiting for matches, Mattins said, “and we’ve got kids, especially young boys,” waiting for matches.

Mattins, who has been a BB-BS volunteer for seven years, believes strongly that if such programs were better funded and able to expand, “it would eliminate the need for other programs” that deal with young people.

He cited as an example programs for juveniles in the justice system.

“Why not deal with kids before they get into trouble rather than after they get into trouble?” Mattins asked.

And, he pointed out, “Big Brothers-Big Sisters is the original mentoring program, which is so hot these days.”

Big Brothers-Big Sisters is, indeed, a long-standing, highly regarded and valuable service to the young people of our communities.

We hope you will help BB-BS reach its goal, this year, by gathering pledges and participating in this fund-raiser.

For more information, or to obtain pledge sheets, call BB-BS at 941-2862.

We remind readers that “Pathfinders: Support for Grieving Children,” begins its spring session Tuesday, March 6.

The Hospice of Eastern Maine program offers a 10-week grief support group for children and families or caregivers experiencing the death of a loved one.

Facilitators are volunteers trained by HOEM.

The program will be conducted from 6 to 7:30 p.m. each Tuesday at Bangor Christian School.

Interested families, or anyone seeking information about Pathfinders, can learn more by calling program coordinator Linda Boyle at 973-8269.

Throughout the month of March, the Hermon Girl Scouts are conducting a food drive.

Scout leader Barb Carlow wrote that the girls “will be collecting nonperishable food items and personal hygiene products to be donated to an area food bank.”

Each kindergarten through grade eight classroom in Hermon will have a collection box. The classroom that collects the most items will win an ice cream party.

If you want more information about this community project, call Carlow at 848-7426.

For the fourth year, Eastern Maine AIDS Network is participating in the Feinstein Foundation Challenge, which matches donations of $25 or more made to EMAN now through the end of April.

Since 1997, the Feinstein Foundation of Rhode Island has worked to help end hunger by pledging to match up to $1 million, annually, in donations to nonprofit agencies throughout the United States.

Contributions to EMAN help that organization meet the nutritional needs of its clients who live in the area served by EMAN.

Executive director Denis Cranson reports that last year’s match helped provide more than 3,500 meals for Maine families.

If you want to help EMAN receive as much as possible from the foundation, send your check by Saturday, April 28, to EMAN, P.O. Box 2038, Bangor 04402.

For more information about the challenge, or about EMAN, call 990-3626.

Members of Bangor High School Class of 1936 are making plans for their 65th reunion luncheon, which will be held Saturday, Aug. 18, at Pilots Grill in Bangor.

If you are a member of this class, or know a class member, and would be interested in attending the reunion or would like more information, you can call Hazel Conners of Brewer at 989-4117 or Phyllis Smith of Bangor at 942-3590.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.